Cost of Capital

Mini Case,

a. 1) What sources of capital should be included when you estimate Cox's weighted average cost of capital (WACC)?

2) Should the component costs be figured on a before-tax or an after-tax basis?

3) Should the costs be historical (embedded) coasts or new (marginal) cost?

b. What is the market interest rate on Cox's debt and its component cost of debt"

c. 1) What is the firm's cost of preferred stock?

2) Cox's preferred stock is riskier to investors than its debt, yet the preferred's yield to investors is lower than the yield to maturity on the debt. Does this suggest that you have made a mistake? (Hint: Think about taxes)

Please also use the attached Spreadsheet!

During the last few years, Cox Technologies has been too constrained by the high cost of capital to make many
capital investments. Recently, though, capital costs have been declining, and the company has decided to look
seriously at a major expansion program that had been proposed by the marketing department. Assume that you
are an assistant to Jerry Lee, the financial vice-president. Your first task is to estimate Cox's cost of capital.
Lee has provided data that he believes is relevant to your task.
(1) The firm's tax rate is 40%
(2) The current price of Cox's 12 percent coupon, semiannual payment, noncallable bonds with 15 years remaining
to maturity is $1,153.72. Cox does not use short-term interest-bearing debt on a permanent basis. New bonds
would be privately placed with no flotation costs.
(3) The current price of the firm's 10 percent, $100 par value, quarterly dividend, perpetual preferred stock is $113.10
Cox would incur a flotation cost of $2.00 per share on a new issue.
(4) Cox's common stock is currently selling at $50 per share. Its last dividend (Do) was $4.19, and dividends are
expected to grow at a constant rate of 5% in the foreseeable future. Cox's beta is 1.2, the yield on T-bonds is
7 percent, and the market risk premium is estimated to be 6 percent. For the bond-yield-risk-premium approach,
the firm uses a 4 percentage point risk premium.
(5) Cox's target capital structure is 30 percent long-term debt, 10 percent preferred stock, and 60 percent common
equity.

Sources of Capital
Long-term debt
Preferred Stock
Common Equity

The cost of capital is the weighted average cost of the debt, preferred stock, and common equity that the firm uses
to finance its assets, or its WACC. There is an overall, or corporate, WACC which reflects the average riskiness
of all the firm's assets. However, since different assets may have more or less risk than the average, the overall
WACC must be adjusted up or down to reflect the riskiness of different proposed capital budgeting projects.

Tax effects associated with financing either in capital budgeting cash flows or in costs of capital. Most firms
incorporate tax effects in the cost of capital, therefore focus on after-tax costs. After-tax costs only effect the cost
of debt. This is due to interest on debt being tax deductible.